No Place Like You
by Aconite72
Summary: Percy jolted awake in the middle of the night just to learn two of the most shocking news of his adult life. One of which is that his best friend/girlfriend for six years and wife for two can actually sing (Percabeth Fluff One-Shot).


**Hi.**

**I have no idea why but I have a strange obsession for song-fics. I swear to you I'll come up with something new next time. But apparently, I'm just so in love with these two songs I just have to write about them.**

**Songs within, seriously recommend you to listen to them while reading the fic:**

_**No Place Like You - Joy Williams.**_

_**Stable's Song - Cover by: Sarah Noelle (YouTube).**_

* * *

Percy was no stranger to jolting awake in the middle of the night. With how erratic his sleeping schedule has become for the past few years, he had been used to seeing the darkened skies and faraway city light just as he was used to the morning Sun.

_Tartarus_.

He sat up on the bed and burrowed his face into his palms.

No matter how many therapy sessions he went to and no matter how much he tried to move on, it all seemed like the hellish bowel of the Earth had become an inseparable part of him. Always coming back in the dark of night to haunt him in bouts of excruciating.

Although he could barely remember what exactly it was out of the numberless traumatic things he had seen back there that gave him such a kick, he knew. He knew just from the chill shooting down his spine and the tightness swelling in his throat where his dream had taken him. And it couldn't be anywhere else but that literal hell-hole.

Percy instinctively reached out to the side of his bed, expecting to find the warm body of one certain blonde he knew could erase all of the troubles from him by only smiling.

Only his hand met the clean sheet of the bed and she was nowhere to be found.

He frowned.

_Where could she have gone at …_ he glanced at the digital clock on their bedside table. _Two in the morning?_

Well, he wasn't going to hang around until she came back to bed. He wasn't the only one who went through the entire ordeal. What if Tartarus touched her tonight, too? He would not let her fight it all by her lonesome as long as he was here.

Hopping off of the bed, he cringed slightly as his bare feet touched the cold floor of their bedroom. He found their bedroom door slightly ajar, she probably went out and didn't want to risk the noise of the doorknob locking and waking him up. Which was nice of her, but the idea only popped more question in his head.

What could she be doing in the night that in spite of the fact that she knew he was as heavy a sleeper as Dionysus on a Sunday morning, she went through all of the troubles to be quiet?

His feet carried him down the beautiful staircase designed by Annabeth herself that led from their master bedroom, sectioned off into an entirely different floor, down to the living room and the rest of the penthouse. Each marble step was lit up on either sides by directional lights, casting a mesmerising glow in the dark space as the lights twirled their way along with each step of the stair down to the ground.

It struck him then as he made his way down just how brilliant his wife actually was. Everything around him was designed by Annabeth, and she clearly didn't hold back on pouring everything she got onto it.

By the time he leaped off of the last step of stairs, his lips were already upturned into a small smile. He loved the fact that every once in a while, he could still find things about her to be amazed of.

"Now where could you be Wise Girl." He muttered under his breath and placed his arms on his hips, surveying the dark living room lit only by the lights of New York City filtering in through the glass wall on the farther side of the room.

Then he heard it.

A voice. It was small, but melodious. Almost as if it was ...

Singing?

His eyebrows raised up, confused.

Two A.M. is hardly a normal time for some music.

Percy stalked quietly toward the source of the sound. It led him out of the living room, into a passageway that ran through their entire suite, and he froze right in place when he found her sitting alone in the guest room.

Annabeth's golden tresses were a stark contrast to the lightless room all around her. She sat with her back to him, legs bundled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them tightly. From behind and a room length away, her figure looked so small but strangely so captivating as she sat in front of the glassy wall of the guest room.

There's New York City, his home; the stars, his world, and Annabeth Chase, his girl all in one still frame of photogenic perfection.

A steaming cup of drink was right next to her, but it looked like it had been untouched for a while.

Normally he would've gone and kissed her to greet her good morning (Literally). Not today, however. Percy stayed as quiet as he could and pressed himself further against the wall and into the darkness to avoid being seen.

Annabeth was singing.

_"__... I've been travelling, roaming, walked a thousand miles_

_Just to break down, turn round, and come back."_

His breath hitched and a weakness coiled in his knees when the obvious chorus came in.

_"__Honey it's true ..."_

She hit the high note perfectly.

_"__There ain't nothing I can do,_

_Cause there's no place ..."_

Her voice lilted, twisted, and gracefully flowed its way through the melody.

_"__... no place like you."_

Eight years of dating, two years of marriage and Percy didn't know that she could sing.

_"__I may ramble, I may wander_

_But when you kiss me ..._

_I'm back where I belong."_

The kind of love that Aphrodite herself must even be jealous of coursed through his veins. The song felt personal, like she was singing directly to him. The lyrics of the strange song instantly reminded him of when Hera claimed him along with his memory, leaving him witless at Camp Jupiter. He was told by many people of how Annabeth fared when he seemed as if he was vaporised out of existence in only one night. Driven half-crazed by loss and confusion, she set on aimlessly wandering from place to place looking for his stupid self.

"_I've been waiting for this._" Annabeth had said when she captured his lips almost hungrily when they were reunited. And to be completely honest, he was, too. That sense of coming home when he was once again next to her was something he could recall even decade later.

_"__And through the hard times, good times, wrap me in your arms_

_Cause I need you, need you, need you!"_

The song rose with a heart-broken plea that physically rung inside of him. It brought him back to their first night after they were reunited. Saying nothing to one another, but just the way she clung to him as if he could once more disappear from right next to her was all that he needed to know what she wanted.

And although many parts of their past were still lost in his scrubbed mind then, he just took her into his arms. Holding her as she silently sobbed the weight of the long journey and the fear from her system and mind.

She needed him then, and he had no doubt that she needed him now. Just like he has always been wanting to be next to her at every second of the day.

_"__Honey it's true."_

Percy couldn't hold himself back anymore. Emerging from the shadow of the walls, he took each careful step her way. Annabeth was especially vulnerable at the moment and he didn't want to freak her out. A small part of him simply just didn't want her to stop singing so soon.

_"__There ain't nothing I can do."_

He was close enough behind her to smell the scent of the steaming drink next to her. Earl Grey, her favourite morning tea.

_"__Cause there's no place ..."_

He held his hand out gingerly.

_"__... no place ..."_

His hand was a hair breadth away from her shoulder when her own hand flew up to catch his in hers. His eyes widened.

"Like you." She said aloud the last of the lyric in the atypical no-nonsense tone and voice.

"Wow..." He breathed. Completely awestruck.

With her face shielded by a curtain of blond princess curls, Annabeth turned her head and pecked his knuckles gently before dropping his limp hand onto her shoulder. Grabbing onto the neglected mug of drink, she took a big gulp of the tea.

"You never told me ..." He stammered.

She hummed without saying a word.

Percy sat down behind her, encircling his arms around her narrow waist to pull her into his laps. She didn't resist at all, even wiggling her way deeper into his chest as she enjoyed the drink.

They lapsed into a comfortable silent as they watched New York's bustling night life carried on underneath them through the window.

It felt like aeons later when he finally gathered his wits to speak:

"You never told me that you can sing."

"And you never asked." He could sense the teasing smile in her voice.

"I'm actually very upset right now." He pouted. "My own _wife_ ..."

She pinched his thigh lightly: "Stop being so dramatic. I can sing, so what?"

"I need more ammunition to brag about you. Amazing as you are, it's getting a bit stale." He nuzzled the crown of her head, breathing in the lemon scent that's been virtually unchanged since when they were kids.

"Stale?" She turned her head fully now to glare at him, her hair parted to one side revealing the piercing grey eyes almost luminescent underneath.

"Master Architect of Olympus, Hero of Olympus, _blah blah blah_. Everyone knows all of that by now. No one knows you can actually sing! It's the perfect gossip!" He blabbered on. "Just imagine what the Apollo kids would do next time we visit camp. They'll be all over you."

"No thanks." She rolled her eyes and reclined fully on him. Something he welcomed wholeheartedly.

"The new Athena kids are a handful. The camp itself is another handful. I don't need another one, considering I only got ..." She held both of her hands up and stuck them right in front of his eyes. "Two hands."

He took the opportunity to give them both a kiss each. She chuckled lightly at his antic.

"What brought you out here anyway?" Percy finally broke the question and she quietened down immediately.

He waited patiently for her to recollect herself.

"Something's been bugging me lately." She began, her voice quite unlike her. Unsure. Annabeth's never unsure, she's plainly the surest person he's ever known and he had ran into the Goddess of Wisdom and Logic - who just so happen to be his cranky Mother in Law - plenty of times.

She continued: "It's pretty stupid."

"Oh come on. You? Stupid? That's totally an oxymoron."

Annabeth wrinkled her nose: "Look at you using big words. I'm glad you picked up something from our marriage."

"Shush. What's on your mind?"

She sighed, unconsciously running the tip of her fingers across the bare skin of his thigh. Percy wanted to moan from the sensation, but it'd be pretty awkward to do it right then.

Maybe later.

"You know every once in a while someone, somewhere, somehow just drag us into big troubles without us even asking for it, right."

He nodded. If there's anyone who knows exactly what that is like, it's Percy.

"Sometimes it's an annoying, inconvenient gig, sometimes we found ourselves risking our lives. Then some other times, we were running for our lives while trying to save the world at the same time." With the way she's becoming stiffer and stiffer, he could sense the welling anxiety inside of her. "I don't know when the next big thing's going to be. And I just ... I just want them all to stop. We can't do this forever, Percy."

"I know." He untangled his arms from her waist to clamp gently on her shoulders, massaging the tense muscles there.

"We're already a family and I don't want my children to eventually grow up in this world where they could die at any moment simply because some dumb prophecies dictate it. I don't want them to ever have to see a monster or have to literally go to Hell for godly's errands." There's no stopping Annabeth at this point as she vented out all of her frustration. Percy decided that it's best to let her talk until she's completely satisfied: "I just want them to go to school, graduate, get a job, and just ... be normal."

"Annabeth." He called her name and she immediately stopped. Looking at him imploringly. He shimmed out from underneath her and moved to face her directly. Grabbing onto either sides of her face to make her focus entirely on him, he said:

"We'll be okay."

He let the words sank in for a few seconds before following it up:

"Our kids will never grow up normal. But I'll promise you they will not have to grow up neglected or abandoned."

"But they'll still have to be errand boys or girls, risking their lives for some dumb reasons?" She glared at him. For this, he had no words because he knew the answer.

"There's no other way …"

"Yeah." Annabeth finally sighed and her voice quietened down: "There isn't."

"Look, I know it's hard …"

"It _is_ hard. I don't want to be like Athena or, or Jason's mother, Percy. I want to actually be a mother. A real one and … it's so frustrating knowing that I will give them the shortest straws in life and I can't do anything about it."

In the distance, thunder crackled across the horizon. Athena must've heard of what her daughter had said but this one boom of thunder sounded weak, meek, even. Like his mother in law knew just how bad she was as a mother. On one part insulted, but the other she couldn't fault Annabeth's assessment of her motherhood to actually smite them where they stood for irreverence.

As for him, he stayed silent.

Mostly because he got agitated, too, thinking about it. Poseidon's a pretty cool dad, but he wasn't stellar by any mean nor was he the picture perfect father. By demigod's standard, he was fairly decent but for mortal's standard: It's downright horrible CPS would've baulked hearing about it.

If it wasn't for Annabeth and his friends, he wouldn't have chosen this life given the chance to. In fact, no one really would if they understood the full magnitude of responsibility and risks that came with it. And if they were to ever have children in the future, there's no reason they wouldn't think the same.

He was jolted out of his thought when he felt Annabeth's soft hand resting on his cheek. When he looked up at her in surprise, he found her smiling.

"Overthinking is my business." She ran a thumb over his skin and he sighed in contentment. "It's stressing you out. I'm sorry."

"You're right. Like always."

She chuckled huskily.

"Like always." Percy mirrored her smile and his heart started beating a bit faster when her eyes did _the thing_ again. When it just softened down like melted butter and all he saw within was pure, unadulterated love and passion aimed directly at him.

"But trying is a pretty good way to go, I guess." She whispered, mostly to herself.

"What brought this up, anyway? I don't think you're out here all alone singing and drinking, talking of children for no reasons at all." He finally prodded the huge elephant in the room but Annabeth didn't seem like she heard his question. Her endearing smile was still there and she was still running her fingers through his cheek absent-mindedly.

After a while, he heard the crinkle of her thin pyjama rustling in the absolute quietness of the guest room as she moved and reached up, encircling her fingers behind the nape of his neck and pulled him close. Close enough that their noses were touching and he could smell the faint sweetness of bergamot orange on her breath.

"I read somewhere that kids love to hear their mother's singing."

He got the second shock of the night when he finally realised what she was implying. Shocked enough that when her lips descended on his, he didn't even realise it and instead he just stared straight ahead at the creamy wall completely unmoving. Percy was sure he wasn't even breathing for a full minute after the revelation.

"Percy?" Annabeth finally pulled away and looked on at him concerned. "Your brain's fried already?"

"Annabeth." He swallowed thickly. "Are you … are you …"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Absolutely sure?"

"Yes."

"But … how …?"

"Percy, do I have to really give you the birds and the bees right now?"

"No, no, I know _that_ part but …-"

"But what? You know you're not exactly very careful when it comes to _that _right?"

"Now why's it my fault."

His smile was blooming bigger and bigger. Annabeth knew he wasn't upset and with the mirth and wild ecstasy in his eyes, she knew they were on the same page.

"You're a complete horndog." She scoffed.

"Should I remind you that one time in the kitchen …"

"We are _not_ talking about that one time in the kitchen."

"Why not?! It's one of the best times! Probably not as great as that one time in the car though."

"We are not talking about _any_ of our times, ever. There's no kitchen and there's definitely no car." She crossed her arms and looked at him irately. Daring him to continue.

"Fine…" He pouted. "How far ahead is it?"

"It's only been three months in … I knew about it on the second."

"And you didn't tell me?" His eye twitched and his chest twinged with hurt for a while. This is one of the greatest - if not _the_ greatest milestone in his life - and Annabeth didn't even bother to tell him for an entire month she had been knowing about it?

"I don't know how you're going to react to it. If I had, I would've told you sooner. We're still too young for this right now and … I don't know, I thought you wouldn't want it."

It stung him like nothing else in the world and from the way Annabeth flinched, she knew it.

"Why wouldn't I want it? I want you and there's nothing that would make it happier than …" He paused, his brain having to process a little bit before he choked out: "… our child."

"I know that now."

They've been with one another for a long time to hear, see, and feel every nuances of one another's emotion. And sure enough, when he gently drew her away from hiding behind the curtain of hair, her eyes were red with unshed tears.

"You should've told me earlier."

Drawing her away from hiding was one thing, Percy then drew her into his chest.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

_We're okay_.

"C'mon." He leaned the both of them back until they were laying on the tiled floor, her head on his chest rising and falling rhythmically.

"What are you doing?"

"Sing for me and the little one." He looked down at her questioning eyes and at that, she broke down completely. She sobbed loudly into the dampening fabric of his t-shirt, Percy just laid there with her as he had always been stroking her back as she cried her eyes out.

"Sorry." Annabeth uncharacteristically apologised for the umpteenth time.

He wiped the tears from off her cheeks and the corners of her shimmering grey eyes. "What are you sorry for, again?"

"Just being a very wet mess." She sniffled. "This is the happiest I've ever been."

"What of our wedding?" He joked and she rewarded him with a slap to the chest.

"We were basically married for eight years before, the wedding just made it official."

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl."

He laid her gently onto her side and spooned her from behind, his hands resting gingerly on her stomach. It's too early in the morning for him to process the fact that he's becoming a father, the full weight of the realisation would hit him in the morning.

Not now, though. Now he's demanding a performance he didn't know his wife could give.

"I'm serious about the singing." She kissed the nape of her neck and Annabeth giggled at the tickling sensation.

"Okay, okay. It hasn't even developed that far to even be able to listen just yet."

"Hey, that's very hurtful!"

"It's the truth." She rolled her eyes and wiped away the last, damp remnants of her momentary breakdowns from her face.

"You never know, what if he could hear you or something?"

"He?!" His wife screeched indignantly. "_She_."

"Oh yeah? And how do you know that." He challenged, rather foolishly but he rather entertained the idea of senseless bantering.

"I'm the mother, of course I know."

Percy couldn't see her face with their position, but he could bet his entire house that she had just rolled her eyes.

"Ugh … just you wait. He's going to be the best son ever." He kissed her shoulder blade.

"I'm not dealing with this right now. It's three in the morning. We can have this conversation later when I can allocate enough brain cells to handle you." She muttered and curled her legs up, retracting into a ball on the floor. He followed and moulded his shape to hers.

"How about that performance now?"

"Fine."

She cleared her throat and laid still for a while. And when she sang the first note, he unconsciously tightened his embrace and gathered her even closer to him.

_"__Remember when our songs were just like prayers?_

_Like gospel hymns that you caught in the air?_

_Come down, come down sweet reverence,_

_Unto my simple house and ring."_

He closed his eyes to the sound of her lullaby, inviting him into a dream that his own soul has been aching for but his mind never knew it was craving.

_"… __and ring."_

A family that he could call his own. Where his wife, long, curly, golden blonde hair glittering in the Sun was standing in a field of his vividest fantasy, beaming at him with all of the devotion, passion, and sweet promises that came with her love.

_"… __and I ran back to the hollow again,_

_The moon was just a sliver back then._

_And I ached for my heart like some tin man._

_When it came, oh it beat and it boil and it rang."_

Maybe they could fit a child, or two, or three, or four in that midst. The Jackson household will never find itself missing laughters.

_"… __Oh it's ringing."_

He will make sure of it. Even if it is the last thing he will ever do.

* * *

**Okay, so there's that!**

**I'd love to hear what you guys think with a review! I LIVE FOR THE REVIEWS, PLEASE!**


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